Posts Tagged ‘book signings

In belated honor of the publication of member Joanna Foreman’s book, GHOSTS OF INTERSTATE 65, we met at a restaurant and chowed down. We actually got some conversation and business taken care of, although the noise level and multiple large-screen tvs showing different shows while an unrelated soundtrack played…. Well, as one member put it, “This is not a good place for someone with ADHD.”

Fellow Southern Indiana Writers Group members T. Lee Harris and Marian Allen and friend Dale met at T’s house. Friend Dale had loaded books in the back of the Dalemobile. We three piled in on top of them and Dale drove us to the Indianapolis library, where we met fellow member Joanna Foreman, who brought copies of her book GHOSTS OF INTERSTATE 65. The Indy library was having an authors’ awards celebration, including a book fair featuring Indiana authors. We had one and a half tables between the three of us.

Here is a picture of the SIW table, being manned by adjunct member Cal A. Vera, a seasonal writer. We met some terrific people and heard great stories. Gave away a lot of information on self-publishing, forming and maintaining a critique group and on our 15 titles.

Okay, we got a hit on this blog from somebody doing a search for “sex on leather couch”. That is SO not what we’re about! Do you know know that your search terms show up on our Dashboard for all of us to see and mock?

Just because one of our titles is UNBRIDLED LUST…. All the stories are no hotter than PG, most are more like G. You could read them to your maiden aunt and not raise a blush on her withered cheek. I believe that it’s one of the titles currently only available at booksignings.

Fortunately, we’re doing two booksignings the first part of this year:

The book signing at Magdalena’s Coffee Cafe on the Square in Corydon would have begun in timely fashion if the books had been there. But these books have minds of their own, you know, being as the featured publication was Ghosts On the Square…and Elsewhere. Our latest, and highly successful, collection of ghost stories was published in October 2008 featuring tales of hauntings, not only along Corydon’s square, but other unlikely places in Harrison County, Indiana. We had featured it in the October Ghost Walk in Corydon written about previously in this blog. Anyway, the books arrived simultaneously along with two authors and a display table, ten minutes late, so we got set up pronto.

Magdalena’s was kind enough to offer the writers free coffee and tea, just for being who we are: The Southern Indiana Writers. Five of us showed up, the others went shopping or had family in town since it was the day after Thanksgiving, after all.

Several customers came in that morning, many of them looked over our wares and a few made a purchase or two. We had a fun time, like we always do, and some of us learned some new tricks. Joanna Foreman, for instance, had never played Scrabble. (Why would a writer even publicly admit such a thing?) On top of that, she proclaimed she wasn’t good with words. And she calls herself a writer! She plopped herself on a beautiful leather couch in front of the fireplace and played the game with her granddaughter. I’ll give you one guess who won. The 11-year old!

Another interesting twist that morning: a man who calls himself Butchie was seated in the front window, playing guitar, adding to the genuine cozy atmosphere of the coffee shop. Butchie, with his permission, appears in Marian Allen’s “A Love Song for Pythias”.

After the signing, a few of us shopped in the unique boutiques in downtown Corydon. A couple of days after that, Marian Allen visited the Visitor’s Information Center, where they were thrilled to see her with the books. Seems that many people have stopped by in recent days asking where they could acquire a copy. So it appears that Ghosts on the Square…and Elsewhere will be available there for purchase for quite some time to come.

–Joanna

Saturday, December 13, 1-4

Three of us made it to the signing at the Harrison County Public Library. Everybody else was busy, ill, without transport, and various combinations of the above. We had a good day, nevertheless. Sold some books and met a local author of gritty noir stories set in this area. I have blurred his features in order to protect him. Of course, it isn’t much protection, since I’m going to give him a shout-out: his name is FRANK BILL! If you like your fiction visceral, you’ll love his stuff. Even if you don’t like your fiction visceral, he’s so good you’ll want to read his prose anyway.

As Joanna said, our GHOSTS book is available at the Corydon Visitor’s Center, and (along with many of our other anthologies) also online from electronic booksellers and by order through independent booksellers, and through our publisher/printer, Lulu.